1
00:00:16,160 --> 00:00:19,599
Speaker 1: What's up. It's Granger Smith. This is the Granger Smith Podcast,

2
00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:23,000
Speaker 1: Episode six. If you got a question for me that

3
00:00:23,079 --> 00:00:25,560
Speaker 1: you would like me to answer in depth on a podcast,

4
00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:27,960
Speaker 1: and go ahead and tweet me at Granger Smith and

5
00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:31,159
Speaker 1: hashtag Granger Smith podcast. I could search for that. You

6
00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:33,839
Speaker 1: type your question and I'll get it answered. Thank you

7
00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:38,040
Speaker 1: guys for listening. In episode one, I started talking about

8
00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:41,360
Speaker 1: how I became a fan of music, which was the

9
00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:44,640
Speaker 1: reason I started this crazy journey, because I was a

10
00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:47,879
Speaker 1: fan first. But what you need to understand is that

11
00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:50,839
Speaker 1: my journey was a little bit different, a little bit unorthodox,

12
00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:54,880
Speaker 1: from a lot of other country artists. I got my

13
00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:57,360
Speaker 1: start on the road over a decade of beating up

14
00:00:57,400 --> 00:00:59,560
Speaker 1: honky tonks and dance halls and trying to make one

15
00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:03,640
Speaker 1: fan of the time, as opposed to staying in Nashville

16
00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:07,160
Speaker 1: and writing songs and creating a buzz within the industry. Now,

17
00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:09,880
Speaker 1: there's a reason that I did that. There's a reason

18
00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:13,039
Speaker 1: that my path drastically changed because I was living in

19
00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:16,160
Speaker 1: Nashville and I was on the songwriting path. And by

20
00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:18,240
Speaker 1: the way, neither way is right or wrong, but there

21
00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:20,800
Speaker 1: was a couple of events that led me in the

22
00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:25,000
Speaker 1: opposite direction. There's even a place that helped me make

23
00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:27,240
Speaker 1: my mind up, and I should probably thank them, but

24
00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:30,240
Speaker 1: I'll never support them again because they exploit the dreams

25
00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:33,040
Speaker 1: of young country singers, and I guess I'll talk about

26
00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:38,480
Speaker 1: that here we go. You hear that, Yeah, that's the

27
00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:42,680
Speaker 1: sound of nothing. That's the sound of a lonely quiet

28
00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:46,800
Speaker 1: hotel room. And I kind of welcome the quiet because

29
00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:48,880
Speaker 1: we're we're in the middle of a lot of craziness

30
00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:51,560
Speaker 1: right now. Luke Bryan, who we're on tour with, is

31
00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:55,160
Speaker 1: currently doing his farm tour, so we're not on that

32
00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:57,640
Speaker 1: part of his tour. So in the meantime, we're doing

33
00:01:57,720 --> 00:02:00,520
Speaker 1: what we call flight dates. That means we we fly

34
00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:04,080
Speaker 1: commercially to all these different cities and then we put

35
00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:07,040
Speaker 1: on a show with rented gear. Let me give you

36
00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:09,880
Speaker 1: a window into this craziness. Pulling out my phone looking

37
00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:13,120
Speaker 1: at my schedule. Yesterday we were in Tampa, Florida. We

38
00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:17,919
Speaker 1: drove to O Calla, Florida. Today, Nashville, Tennessee, then Mobile, Alabama,

39
00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:23,480
Speaker 1: home for a day, then Westfield, Massachusetts, Norfolk, Virginia, Boston,

40
00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:31,360
Speaker 1: mass Fort Collins, Colorado, Indianapolis, Indiana, home for a day Perry, Georgia, Jacksonville, Florida,

41
00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:35,640
Speaker 1: Green Bay, Wisconsin. And then finally we fly out to Fresno, California,

42
00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:37,440
Speaker 1: where we're going to meet the buses and they're going

43
00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:39,440
Speaker 1: to take three or four days to drive out there

44
00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:42,240
Speaker 1: on their own. We play three days in California with

45
00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:45,680
Speaker 1: Luke Bryan home for four and then I'm gone for

46
00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:50,000
Speaker 1: thirty one days. That will be the longest I've ever

47
00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:53,160
Speaker 1: been gone as a musician from home. Thirty one days

48
00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:58,840
Speaker 1: in the US. That's insanity. That's going to be me

49
00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:01,600
Speaker 1: living a lot on faith time, talking to my three

50
00:03:01,639 --> 00:03:05,640
Speaker 1: little ones and my wife. It's not easy. It's not

51
00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:09,359
Speaker 1: the glamorous life that you might think it is. It's

52
00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:13,440
Speaker 1: a lot of missing home, which is probably part of

53
00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:16,600
Speaker 1: what inspires me and the guys to be better, to

54
00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:21,240
Speaker 1: be better versions of ourself, because we have that passion

55
00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:24,080
Speaker 1: to win, because we better not lose. If we're using

56
00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:27,400
Speaker 1: this much time away from home, we can't lose. We

57
00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:30,880
Speaker 1: got to be at our best right. A lot of

58
00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:33,320
Speaker 1: this craziness is happening because I have a brand new

59
00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:36,280
Speaker 1: album coming out on October twenty seventh. It's called When

60
00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:39,640
Speaker 1: the Good Guys Win And If you don't mind before

61
00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:42,080
Speaker 1: anyone else hears it. I would like to play a

62
00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:44,880
Speaker 1: little bit of this record exclusively right now, right here

63
00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:48,400
Speaker 1: on this podcast. Here's a snippet, so I don't get

64
00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:51,000
Speaker 1: in trouble, but this is the title track, When the

65
00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:54,360
Speaker 1: Good Guys Win. He's a greasy ranch turning on a

66
00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:59,280
Speaker 1: big black Chevrolet, first in, last out every day. He's

67
00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:02,280
Speaker 1: a mega give a dollar if you need me hotter

68
00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:07,400
Speaker 1: kind of good old boy. There's a single white trailer,

69
00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:11,120
Speaker 1: couple lakers on the edge of town front or sun

70
00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:15,080
Speaker 1: going down and Matt Bruded Banks swinging and the swing

71
00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:18,880
Speaker 1: like a dream is where it is ring. Don't you

72
00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:22,560
Speaker 1: love it? When the Good Guys? When? Don't you love it?

73
00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:26,880
Speaker 1: When a ship comes in? Yeah? Man, every now and

74
00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:32,640
Speaker 1: then what goes around comes around again? Don't you live?

75
00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:36,520
Speaker 1: A little long shot? Prayer? Und your dog on a

76
00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:39,880
Speaker 1: hill of a tailor. He wants a kiss and she

77
00:04:40,279 --> 00:04:44,920
Speaker 1: leans in. Don't you love him? Win? The good Guys win?

78
00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:47,480
Speaker 1: And there you have it. I hope you guys like

79
00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:49,880
Speaker 1: this album as much as I enjoyed making it, and

80
00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:51,720
Speaker 1: I'll be I'll be playing a lot more of it

81
00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:55,200
Speaker 1: before October twenty seventh, when it comes out. You know,

82
00:04:55,320 --> 00:04:59,760
Speaker 1: things weren't always this crazy, quite the opposite. When when

83
00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:03,599
Speaker 1: I first started, I was a rocky road Let me

84
00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:15,599
Speaker 1: tell you about that. So I was a teenager. I

85
00:05:15,640 --> 00:05:17,880
Speaker 1: had an album out. One album. I had ten songs.

86
00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:20,880
Speaker 1: It was called Waiting On Forever. I was a sophomore

87
00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:23,440
Speaker 1: at Texas A and M University. I was in the

88
00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:27,039
Speaker 1: core cadets there, and so I had I had friends,

89
00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:31,240
Speaker 1: I had a built in fan base already, and the

90
00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:34,919
Speaker 1: only thing I didn't have was a band. So I

91
00:05:34,960 --> 00:05:36,960
Speaker 1: went to the school paper and I put out an

92
00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:41,360
Speaker 1: ad and it said country singer needs country band, serious

93
00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:44,560
Speaker 1: gigs in line. And I was truthful about everything except

94
00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:47,000
Speaker 1: for the serious gigs in line. I didn't have any gigs.

95
00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:48,800
Speaker 1: But I figured if I could get a band, if

96
00:05:48,839 --> 00:05:51,360
Speaker 1: we could find a place to practice and rehearse and

97
00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:54,200
Speaker 1: play some of these songs off at this album, and

98
00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:57,960
Speaker 1: we'd be off to the races. I ended up meeting

99
00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:00,560
Speaker 1: a bunch of the guys from that ad. Started with

100
00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:03,000
Speaker 1: a keyboard player, and then we found a guitar player,

101
00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:05,279
Speaker 1: and then one of my friends that kind of knew guitar,

102
00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:09,080
Speaker 1: then he learned bass. So we weren't the best band,

103
00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:12,000
Speaker 1: but we were able to play the songs well enough

104
00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:15,000
Speaker 1: to go get us a gig. Now, the college station

105
00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:19,240
Speaker 1: music scene, it was good to me. I was able

106
00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:21,520
Speaker 1: to get a couple of local bar gigs. I met

107
00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:24,680
Speaker 1: some of the owners. They were very willing to have

108
00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:27,560
Speaker 1: us play their stage because when I came to play,

109
00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:30,520
Speaker 1: I brought all my friends and they would pile in

110
00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:33,400
Speaker 1: there and make the bar money. You know. That's the

111
00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:35,600
Speaker 1: way that I got my first publishing deal. We had

112
00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:39,640
Speaker 1: several companies from Nashville flying down interested in seeing me play,

113
00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:44,640
Speaker 1: and I ended up signing with EMI at the time. Now,

114
00:06:44,640 --> 00:06:48,640
Speaker 1: I went over this in my songwriting podcast. But I

115
00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:52,520
Speaker 1: left Texas A and M to go to Nashville to

116
00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:55,719
Speaker 1: write songs. What I didn't know was how much I

117
00:06:55,760 --> 00:06:59,479
Speaker 1: was gonna miss playing the songs live. And I hadn't

118
00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:03,280
Speaker 1: even really started yet. And it didn't take long in Nashville.

119
00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:07,080
Speaker 1: And I don't know what came first, the lack of

120
00:07:07,160 --> 00:07:11,840
Speaker 1: success from my songwriting career at the time, or my

121
00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:14,600
Speaker 1: need to jump back on the stage. But I met

122
00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:17,120
Speaker 1: this guy named Trent Willman, and Trent and I became

123
00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:19,720
Speaker 1: great friends. He was a fellow Texan. We wrote a

124
00:07:19,720 --> 00:07:22,360
Speaker 1: lot of songs together, and he was starting a band.

125
00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:25,440
Speaker 1: He had a house gig in Louisbourg, Tennessee, this place

126
00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:28,559
Speaker 1: called Big Gems Now where I fit in with Trent

127
00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:31,440
Speaker 1: and Big Gems is. I had been spending a lot

128
00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:35,160
Speaker 1: of my spare time after songwriting during the day learning

129
00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:38,400
Speaker 1: the steel guitar, the pedal steel guitar. I had a

130
00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:41,560
Speaker 1: lot of hours at home by myself. I always loved

131
00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:43,280
Speaker 1: the steel guitar and it was a passion of mine

132
00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:46,120
Speaker 1: to learn it. Now Trent knew that he had heard

133
00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:48,840
Speaker 1: me play just hanging around. He said, hey, man, you

134
00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:57,680
Speaker 1: want to be in my band. I said, yes, I do.

135
00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:06,600
Speaker 1: I spent the night with Jim Beamon, Johnny Walker Red

136
00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:11,280
Speaker 1: woke up with a very train running through my head.

137
00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:15,520
Speaker 1: I'm a bear man. I had a blast in that band.

138
00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:18,480
Speaker 1: We called ourselves cow Camp. I actually turned twenty one

139
00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:21,680
Speaker 1: on stage at Big Gym's playing for Trent Now. These

140
00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:24,640
Speaker 1: days were very important to me for a couple of reasons. One,

141
00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:28,760
Speaker 1: that was my first and only true experience as a

142
00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:32,199
Speaker 1: band member, not the front guy. I was learning how

143
00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:35,920
Speaker 1: to take directions and follow his set list. The other

144
00:08:36,160 --> 00:08:39,800
Speaker 1: really important thing was every night Trent let me sing

145
00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:42,200
Speaker 1: a couple of songs. So during this house gig, not

146
00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:45,000
Speaker 1: only did I learn a lot from watching Trent, but

147
00:08:45,080 --> 00:08:47,480
Speaker 1: I got to get up and practice a little myself too.

148
00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:49,600
Speaker 1: Now you know a side note. You know who our

149
00:08:49,679 --> 00:08:52,520
Speaker 1: drummer was during that time. It was Chris Lee, who's

150
00:08:52,559 --> 00:08:55,920
Speaker 1: now my current tour manager. So as you can imagine,

151
00:08:56,120 --> 00:08:58,640
Speaker 1: Chris knows a lot about me. He's seen many phases

152
00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:01,400
Speaker 1: of my life. In fact, let me call Chris real

153
00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:03,520
Speaker 1: quick and see if he has anything to say about

154
00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:15,640
Speaker 1: cal Camp. What's that? Brother? I just was gonna call

155
00:09:15,679 --> 00:09:18,720
Speaker 1: you real quick. Do you ever think about cow Camp?

156
00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:25,160
Speaker 1: I'm actually on the podcast right now talking about caw

157
00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:32,280
Speaker 1: Camp days. Hard to believe that you're a great stoke

158
00:09:32,320 --> 00:09:37,160
Speaker 1: guitar fighter back dude and you a drummer. Yeah, yeah,

159
00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:41,200
Speaker 1: even more so be a drummer. Yeah, I was just

160
00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:42,920
Speaker 1: talking on this podcast. So that's kind of where I

161
00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:46,040
Speaker 1: cut my teeth in the honky Tonk World, my one

162
00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:49,200
Speaker 1: and only time of being a band member and not

163
00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:52,040
Speaker 1: the front guy. Yeah. That's uh, that's caite a way

164
00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:56,040
Speaker 1: to cut your teeth. Because we drove an hour to

165
00:09:56,080 --> 00:10:00,440
Speaker 1: get there and then played for about five hours, taking

166
00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:03,360
Speaker 1: ten minute breaks between sets, and then we drove an

167
00:10:03,400 --> 00:10:07,480
Speaker 1: hour back home. Those were some regulous nights for sure. Yep,

168
00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:15,800
Speaker 1: I'll see you somewhere on Friday, Boston something West Springfield, Okay.

169
00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:19,160
Speaker 1: I had a great experience at big gyms, and it

170
00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:22,520
Speaker 1: lasted for a few years. I think what ended that

171
00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:25,079
Speaker 1: gig for me was Trent got a record deal on

172
00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:28,360
Speaker 1: Sony Records. He took off and went and put out

173
00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:31,800
Speaker 1: a big radio single and hit the road. And now

174
00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:35,960
Speaker 1: it was time for me to really focus on me

175
00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:38,400
Speaker 1: being a singer. And that's when I made my best

176
00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:42,199
Speaker 1: worst decision at the time of my career. I turned

177
00:10:42,200 --> 00:10:57,080
Speaker 1: my focus to downtown Nashville, Broadway Street, broadways, cutthroat singers,

178
00:10:57,240 --> 00:11:01,120
Speaker 1: guitar players, musicians, songwriters, all trying to make a name

179
00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:03,960
Speaker 1: for themselves, to get a record deal or end up

180
00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:06,800
Speaker 1: on somebody's big tour. You've seen it. It's a big

181
00:11:06,840 --> 00:11:10,079
Speaker 1: tourist attraction in Nashville. There's a bar on every corner,

182
00:11:10,320 --> 00:11:13,040
Speaker 1: and every one of them has live music seven days

183
00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:15,559
Speaker 1: a week, starting at ten am, going all the way

184
00:11:15,559 --> 00:11:18,680
Speaker 1: to two am. It's four hour shifts with no breaks

185
00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:22,120
Speaker 1: for the bands, and they're playing only for tips. At first,

186
00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:26,160
Speaker 1: I loved it. Challenge accepted. Right, you have to stand out.

187
00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:28,880
Speaker 1: You have to have something about you that draws people

188
00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:31,679
Speaker 1: in more than the guy down the street. Otherwise you're

189
00:11:31,679 --> 00:11:34,160
Speaker 1: not gonna get customers. You're not gonna get people standing

190
00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:36,920
Speaker 1: and there watching you play, and you're not gonna get tips.

191
00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:39,240
Speaker 1: Now I won't name the name, but it's the Purple

192
00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:42,120
Speaker 1: Bar on that street, and that's where I started. And

193
00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:45,320
Speaker 1: I played three gigs per week on that stage, Monday

194
00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:48,720
Speaker 1: morning at ten am to two pm, Wednesday afternoon two

195
00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:52,760
Speaker 1: pm to six pm, and Friday six pm to ten pm.

196
00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:55,600
Speaker 1: These shows were every week of the year, so my

197
00:11:55,679 --> 00:11:58,200
Speaker 1: Monday morning gig was just me and a guitar. The

198
00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:00,560
Speaker 1: only other person in the room during that hour was

199
00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:03,360
Speaker 1: the bartender because people aren't drinking beer at ten am,

200
00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:06,360
Speaker 1: usually on a Monday morning. But we always left the

201
00:12:06,400 --> 00:12:09,000
Speaker 1: doors open, even on the cold months, because God forbid,

202
00:12:09,080 --> 00:12:11,040
Speaker 1: some tourist might be walking down the street that wants

203
00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:25,600
Speaker 1: to hear some music. I don't think there's ever been

204
00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:29,080
Speaker 1: another season of my career that I've been more excited

205
00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:32,360
Speaker 1: to tell you about. More things. We've got Yee Energy,

206
00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:34,959
Speaker 1: the energy drink that me and my brothers created that

207
00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:38,800
Speaker 1: I call the unofficial sponsor of this podcast. We have

208
00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:40,920
Speaker 1: a whole new apparel line coming out in the fall.

209
00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:43,280
Speaker 1: We have a brand new album called When the Good

210
00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:47,559
Speaker 1: Guys Win, releases October twenty seven. Right after that, we're

211
00:12:47,559 --> 00:12:49,599
Speaker 1: gonna start a headlining tour called the Don't Tread On

212
00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:52,360
Speaker 1: Me Tour, and we're probably coming to a city or

213
00:12:52,360 --> 00:12:55,320
Speaker 1: town near you. Oh when there's this guy named Earl

214
00:12:55,360 --> 00:12:58,319
Speaker 1: Dibbles Junior, who I need to explain, by the way,

215
00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:00,680
Speaker 1: one of these podcasts. But he has a new song

216
00:13:00,720 --> 00:13:04,280
Speaker 1: coming on this album and I cannot wait to show

217
00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:06,320
Speaker 1: you guys the music video that we made for it.

218
00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:09,600
Speaker 1: I realized that it is you, guys that allow me

219
00:13:09,679 --> 00:13:12,120
Speaker 1: to do what I do. Thank you for that support.

220
00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:17,480
Speaker 1: Back in the Purple Bar that I'll leave unnamed, the

221
00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:20,440
Speaker 1: owner is always on me. He's always on me about

222
00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:24,280
Speaker 1: the time that I wasted in between songs. He wanted

223
00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:26,480
Speaker 1: one song to end and another song to start right away.

224
00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:28,320
Speaker 1: He didn't even want me to tell the band what

225
00:13:28,360 --> 00:13:30,400
Speaker 1: the next song was. He wanted the band just to

226
00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:33,240
Speaker 1: follow along because he didn't want any space for a

227
00:13:33,280 --> 00:13:36,600
Speaker 1: customer to have the opportunity to leave and go to

228
00:13:36,640 --> 00:13:39,160
Speaker 1: one of his competitors. He also had a big say

229
00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:41,720
Speaker 1: in the songs I was playing. He wanted the most

230
00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:47,280
Speaker 1: popular songs played all day repeated. Of course, no originals.

231
00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:50,080
Speaker 1: Don't even thinking about playing an original song, you know.

232
00:13:50,120 --> 00:13:52,319
Speaker 1: And I was okay with that, especially at the beginning,

233
00:13:52,360 --> 00:13:55,840
Speaker 1: because this wasn't about me playing my original music. This

234
00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:59,480
Speaker 1: was about me being on stage consistently in front of crowds.

235
00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:02,000
Speaker 1: The crowds were all different. Sometimes I had to perform

236
00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:05,839
Speaker 1: in front of seven people, and then sometimes on a

237
00:14:05,880 --> 00:14:08,199
Speaker 1: Friday night it would be so packed you couldn't put

238
00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:10,600
Speaker 1: another person in there. And it was a good education

239
00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:12,560
Speaker 1: for me to learn how to put on a good

240
00:14:12,559 --> 00:14:15,360
Speaker 1: show no matter what, no matter what song I was playing,

241
00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:18,199
Speaker 1: or no matter who or how many people were watching. Now,

242
00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:20,960
Speaker 1: even though this was a great education, I still had

243
00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:23,680
Speaker 1: a little bit of a problem. I wasn't able to

244
00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:26,800
Speaker 1: pay the bills with these tips, and more importantly to me,

245
00:14:27,360 --> 00:14:30,200
Speaker 1: I couldn't pay the band very well on the tips.

246
00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:32,320
Speaker 1: Keep in mind, we had a tip jar and it

247
00:14:32,360 --> 00:14:34,720
Speaker 1: was all based on one dollar bills, so everyone on

248
00:14:34,760 --> 00:14:37,920
Speaker 1: the street, everyone in Broadway was asking for one dollar

249
00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:41,560
Speaker 1: bills tips. So one night I decided to change that

250
00:14:42,440 --> 00:14:44,720
Speaker 1: I started saying on the microphone this little slogan. I

251
00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:48,200
Speaker 1: would say, we have the best deal in town. We

252
00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:51,600
Speaker 1: will play any song you want for a twenty dollars bill.

253
00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:54,720
Speaker 1: And we acted like it was this that was a

254
00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:57,520
Speaker 1: huge bargain and they were getting a great deal, and

255
00:14:57,560 --> 00:15:00,840
Speaker 1: people would kind of chuckle and laugh. They knew, but

256
00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:04,440
Speaker 1: you know what, people started pulling these twenties out and

257
00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:07,480
Speaker 1: putting in the tip jar, and the band is they're

258
00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:10,200
Speaker 1: kind of getting jazzed up because they know we're all

259
00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:13,200
Speaker 1: splitting this four ways. At the end of the night,

260
00:15:13,240 --> 00:15:15,480
Speaker 1: we went backstage and we took this pickle jar at

261
00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:18,560
Speaker 1: the big tip jar, and we turned it upside down

262
00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:21,760
Speaker 1: and there was just twenties falling all out, wadded up,

263
00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:24,800
Speaker 1: and we were getting excited and we were unrolling these

264
00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:28,280
Speaker 1: twenties and counting them. Up ended up being four hundred

265
00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:31,440
Speaker 1: and eighty dollars divided four ways. That was one hundred

266
00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:35,040
Speaker 1: and twenty bucks each. That was about sixty or eighty

267
00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:37,800
Speaker 1: bucks more than we ever made in a single night.

268
00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:40,840
Speaker 1: Of course, Chris Lee, my tour manager, is my drummer

269
00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:44,280
Speaker 1: at the time, and with this epic night on Broadway,

270
00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:47,560
Speaker 1: we decided to celebrate, so we hit the town bar

271
00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:51,120
Speaker 1: after bar after bar. The only thing I remember in

272
00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:55,600
Speaker 1: the aftermath of that night was that we ended up

273
00:15:55,720 --> 00:16:01,600
Speaker 1: using every dollar that we made on beer. In fact,

274
00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:04,880
Speaker 1: I think Chris spent another additional three hundred bucks or so,

275
00:16:06,120 --> 00:16:08,600
Speaker 1: and then we were even more broke than we started.

276
00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:13,600
Speaker 1: But at least it's a good story. That was the

277
00:16:13,680 --> 00:16:17,160
Speaker 1: night that things changed between me and the Purple people.

278
00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:19,840
Speaker 1: You see, when I came back for the next show,

279
00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:23,320
Speaker 1: the owner who was never really on my side, I

280
00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:26,600
Speaker 1: was a pawn in his game. Well, he called me

281
00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:28,880
Speaker 1: up one day and he wanted to discuss this twenty

282
00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:31,320
Speaker 1: dollars a song thing, and he said, if you're going

283
00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:33,320
Speaker 1: to ask for twenty dollars a song, I'm going to

284
00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:34,880
Speaker 1: get a cut of it because this is my bar.

285
00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:38,600
Speaker 1: I said, no way, man. If I'm going to ask

286
00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:41,280
Speaker 1: for it and somebody tips me twenty bucks out of

287
00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:44,000
Speaker 1: their pocket, that's for me and the band that's playing

288
00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:46,560
Speaker 1: the song, And that's not what he wanted to hear.

289
00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:50,320
Speaker 1: I showed up that Friday ready to play like I

290
00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:53,520
Speaker 1: always did, and when I got there there was another

291
00:16:53,560 --> 00:16:57,200
Speaker 1: band loading in onto the stage, putting their stuff up there.

292
00:16:58,520 --> 00:17:02,360
Speaker 1: He had double booked me on purpose because he knew

293
00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:04,720
Speaker 1: that's all I had. All I had was that stage.

294
00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:07,240
Speaker 1: I stormed into his office. I said, what the hell man?

295
00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:11,960
Speaker 1: He said, oh, well, I'm sorry. He played it off

296
00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:14,920
Speaker 1: like he had no idea. He goes, I'll tell you what, Granger,

297
00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:17,520
Speaker 1: I don't want things to go bad between us. So

298
00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:20,960
Speaker 1: I'm opening up a bar across the street, and I

299
00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:23,040
Speaker 1: would like you to play my grand opening. It's going

300
00:17:23,119 --> 00:17:25,520
Speaker 1: to be a big deal, so big that I'll actually

301
00:17:25,560 --> 00:17:28,119
Speaker 1: pay you one hundred bucks for you to split between

302
00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:30,160
Speaker 1: you and the band, and then you can keep whatever

303
00:17:30,200 --> 00:17:33,120
Speaker 1: tips you get on top of that. Okay, done, I'll

304
00:17:33,119 --> 00:17:35,280
Speaker 1: book it. I've never heard of him paying a band,

305
00:17:35,359 --> 00:17:37,879
Speaker 1: but I'll take it. I need the money. So that

306
00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:40,080
Speaker 1: show rolls around. I go play it with the band.

307
00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:42,960
Speaker 1: After the show, I collect my tips and I go

308
00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:45,120
Speaker 1: to the bartender and I say, hey, I'm just here

309
00:17:45,160 --> 00:17:47,720
Speaker 1: to get my hundred bucks, and she goes, I don't

310
00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:50,880
Speaker 1: know what you're talking about. And I said, well, the

311
00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:52,600
Speaker 1: owner agreed that he was going to pay me a

312
00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:54,520
Speaker 1: hundred bucks if I played the show. And she said, well,

313
00:17:54,520 --> 00:17:56,600
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to talk to him about it. So

314
00:17:56,640 --> 00:17:59,120
Speaker 1: I went down there, and he said, man, I never

315
00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:00,760
Speaker 1: told you I was going to pay a hundred bucks.

316
00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:03,879
Speaker 1: You know, it's tips only around here. Man. I was

317
00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:07,800
Speaker 1: so mad. That was the first time, straight to my face,

318
00:18:08,320 --> 00:18:11,080
Speaker 1: a bar owner had lied to me. Unfortunately, it wasn't

319
00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:13,040
Speaker 1: the last. It would happen many times after that. But

320
00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:16,600
Speaker 1: that's when I learned about what this business is. Sometimes

321
00:18:17,119 --> 00:18:20,919
Speaker 1: the dark side of it, screwing over an artist, a

322
00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:23,919
Speaker 1: starving artist. It's just I'm just trying to make a

323
00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:28,720
Speaker 1: few bucks to keep this stream alive, you know. So

324
00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:32,120
Speaker 1: I went home. I didn't have an argument. I went home,

325
00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:37,160
Speaker 1: and that Friday came, you know, my big Friday gig,

326
00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:42,880
Speaker 1: and I didn't show up on purpose. My phone rang,

327
00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:46,480
Speaker 1: it was him, didn't answer. Rang again. I didn't answer,

328
00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:50,080
Speaker 1: and I was just hoping that minutes were going by

329
00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:53,960
Speaker 1: at six o'clock when all those customers would start leaving

330
00:18:54,040 --> 00:18:56,080
Speaker 1: because there wasn't a band playing, and he would have

331
00:18:56,119 --> 00:18:59,040
Speaker 1: to scramble to find somebody. I don't know what happened

332
00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:01,480
Speaker 1: after that. I never talked to him again. And you

333
00:19:01,520 --> 00:19:04,240
Speaker 1: could do whatever you want. I'm not gonna tell anybody

334
00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:07,880
Speaker 1: not to go there, but I'm not You're not gonna

335
00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:12,200
Speaker 1: see me there. But you know, that was an important

336
00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:16,320
Speaker 1: night for me. Something changed in my mind. I was

337
00:19:16,359 --> 00:19:20,399
Speaker 1: done with Nashville officially, and it wasn't the people, and

338
00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:23,439
Speaker 1: it wasn't music row, it wasn't all the reasons you

339
00:19:23,560 --> 00:19:29,080
Speaker 1: commonly hear it. I needed to get back on a stage,

340
00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:32,600
Speaker 1: a real stage where I could play my songs. I

341
00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:34,239
Speaker 1: had been writing a bunch. I had a bunch of

342
00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:37,200
Speaker 1: songs that I felt like were good enough to play

343
00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:39,879
Speaker 1: in front of an audience, and I needed that. I

344
00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:43,359
Speaker 1: needed Texas. I needed a real band. I needed to

345
00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:48,640
Speaker 1: go home and become the artist that I wanted to be.

346
00:19:54,440 --> 00:20:02,240
Speaker 1: And then, really, it's been big to follow. It might

347
00:20:02,359 --> 00:20:09,840
Speaker 1: be the death of me today when he sayn the os,

348
00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:16,600
Speaker 1: the Poms didn't have a man, you ain't going nowhere.

349
00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:22,080
Speaker 1: You're thinking that the word slash. I remember writing those

350
00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:25,399
Speaker 1: words driving in a U haul truck with all my

351
00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:31,000
Speaker 1: stuff from Nashville to Texas one rainy night, and it

352
00:20:31,119 --> 00:20:37,840
Speaker 1: was the best drive I've ever made. Even what's ironic

353
00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:40,639
Speaker 1: is before that, the best drive I ever made was

354
00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:46,560
Speaker 1: moving to Nashville. But now I was armed with knowledge

355
00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:51,440
Speaker 1: of the business, knowledge of the craft of songwriting, and

356
00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:55,679
Speaker 1: I was ready to take on the stage. I was

357
00:20:55,720 --> 00:20:58,520
Speaker 1: ready to start a band, a real band that was

358
00:20:58,560 --> 00:21:01,920
Speaker 1: going to play original music with me. And I did

359
00:21:02,119 --> 00:21:04,000
Speaker 1: just that. I put together a band. I moved to

360
00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:08,000
Speaker 1: College Station, Texas, lived on my uncle's couch, re enrolled

361
00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:11,520
Speaker 1: to Texas A and M. And people asked me when

362
00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:13,960
Speaker 1: did you get your start. Now, there's a couple answers.

363
00:21:14,560 --> 00:21:17,320
Speaker 1: I could say when I first started playing guitar and

364
00:21:17,359 --> 00:21:20,320
Speaker 1: doing those North Texas oprys at home. I could say

365
00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:22,920
Speaker 1: when I got my first big songwriting gig in Nashville.

366
00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:26,600
Speaker 1: But to me, what really feels like the start is

367
00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:29,600
Speaker 1: this moment April two thousand and four, when I moved

368
00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:33,880
Speaker 1: back to Texas, started the band and began the journey

369
00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:36,399
Speaker 1: that I'm still on today. I went and bought a

370
00:21:36,400 --> 00:21:39,280
Speaker 1: little used trailer in an old PA system and hooked

371
00:21:39,280 --> 00:21:41,439
Speaker 1: it up to the back of my truck, piled in

372
00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:43,720
Speaker 1: the band, and we were armed and ready to play

373
00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:46,280
Speaker 1: any gig that we could possibly find. And that's what

374
00:21:46,359 --> 00:21:50,480
Speaker 1: we did, and it led to all kinds of crazy stuff.

375
00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:53,040
Speaker 1: I even got punched by a fan one time while

376
00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:57,200
Speaker 1: I was singing that feels like a whole new podcast.

377
00:21:58,359 --> 00:22:01,640
Speaker 1: That's probably gonna be on episode seven when I talk

378
00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:05,679
Speaker 1: about the Honky Song Journey. Thank y'all for listening. Happen

379
00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:10,600
Speaker 1: sack that out of the blue Sky listener bo last Yeah.

380
00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:15,040
Speaker 1: When it happens like that, nothing in Loones turns right

381
00:22:15,119 --> 00:22:18,000
Speaker 1: into you, Julie. All you can do just to keep

382
00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:21,000
Speaker 1: her around until the moon goes down in her back

383
00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:24,680
Speaker 1: at your house. One things to another, you loveing each

384
00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:28,080
Speaker 1: other and when looking you never look back. It happens

385
00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:32,240
Speaker 1: like that. Don't forget. You could ask me questions, tweet

386
00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:35,439
Speaker 1: me hashtag Greater Smith Podcast and I'll answer them on

387
00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:37,800
Speaker 1: the next one. Love you guys, thanks for listening.